1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to jewelry, and more particularly to a jewelry made of human bone. Specifically, the preferred embodiment discloses jewelry made of pulverized and recombined primary human teeth, or baby teeth. When a parent saves the baby teeth of his/her children, the teeth would be partially or fully pulverized and bonded with a chemical bonding agent in a mold or pre-formed frame to create designs personalized to the family members.
2. Description Of Related Art
None
2. Background Information
Jewelry made from the bones and teeth of animals has been known and made and worn in early civilizations. From shark teeth to bear claws, man has adorned his body with animal tissue for both necessity and vanity since before written history. Even today, shark teeth are a popular necklace. It is believed the Vikings may have made jewelry from human teeth. It has also been known to string teeth together for attachment to a necklace. It has also been known in Costa Rica and Chile to set the solid deciduous dentition pieces in gold or silver, to make a necklace or earring.
What has not known to have been done is to manufacture jewelry from processed human deciduous dentition, as in the manner disclosed. The hardest thing in the human body is the enamel on the teeth. Like all mammals, humans have primary teeth and permanent teeth. Teeth begin being formed before birth.
Human teeth are very hard in order to withstand the grinding forces associated with chewing and crunching food. The hard material of the tooth is composed of calcium, phosphorus and other mineral salts. The material in the majority of the tooth is called dentine. The hard, shiny exterior layer is the enamel.
Teeth have two basic parts; a root to anchor the tooth to the jaw and a crown above the gum line. The root is covered with a hard material called cementum. At the center of each tooth is an area with nerves, arteries and veins called the dental pulp.
Humans have four different types of teeth, each with a different function: Incisors for cutting off bites of food; cuspids (with long sharp points) for tearing food; bicuspids (with two points) to tear and crush food; and molars with large, relatively flat surfaces to crush and grind food.
The four types of teeth together allow humans to be omnivores (eating both meat and vegetables). Most animals have more specialized teeth. Carnivorous (meat eating) animals have long sharp tearing teeth. Grazing animals, like cows and horses, have large flat teeth for grinding grass and other vegetation. Deciduous dentition is also known as the primary, baby, milk, or lacteal dentition.
The term deciduous means “to fall off.” Although deciduous teeth are in time replaced by the succedaneous, or permanent, teeth, they are very important to the proper alignment, spacing and occlusion of the permanent teeth. The deciduous incisor teeth are functional in the mouth for approximately five years, while the deciduous molars are functional for approximately nine years. They therefore have considerable functional significance. The progressive loss of deciduous teeth are considered an important milestone in the developmental phase of childhood.
The events are often marked by celebration, traditions and superstitions around the world. In the United States, tradition is based on tales of the Tooth Fairy. In Australia, mothers are once believed to have crushed their children's baby teeth and eaten the powder.
In some parts of the world, a child's baby tooth was placed in nests where rats or snakes were known to live because people believed evil witches disliked those animals and wouldn't go near them. In many parts of the world, parents placed their children's teeth in mouse nests. They thought that would result in a new tooth growing in the lost tooth's place, just as a mouse's lost teeth somehow re-grew.
In other parts of the world, mothers hid their children's teeth from animals because they believed if an animal found the tooth, a tooth like that animal's would grow in the mouth of the child.
In parts of England, mothers at one time burned their children's baby teeth so that evil witches couldn't get their hands on them and gain control of the children.
It is common for parents to save, at least for a while, the deciduous teeth of their children as a keepsake of their childhood and development. The typical storage means is a small envelope or decorative box. One disadvantage of this method of saving deciduous teeth is that the deciduous teeth are biologically contaminated. Another problem is that a small box filled with tiny teeth isn't significant as a keepsake, other than the origin of the bone matter itself.
Another disadvantage of storing deciduous teeth is that the collective individual teeth are easily lost or mixed up with the teeth of other children. Another disadvantage of storing deciduous teeth is they lack the display appeal of photographs, gifts, letters, and other memorabilia.